Mid-North Coast real estate: The four suburbs named in Nation’s top 50 to invest in
Port Macquarie, Taree, Forster and Coffs are among the state’s hottest property markets with rental returns eclipsing mortgage repayments. Find out how you can get a slice of the action.
For many house hunters and investors across the Mid-North Coast, the current once-in-a-life-time market boom has left heads spinning.
Prices are going up and up by the week, driven by interest from Sydney, the Covid pandemic and demand for holiday homes close to the beach.
Exclusive data obtained by The Mid-North Coast News, in association with realestate.com.au, reveals the four Mid-North Coast centres that have been named in the nation’s hottest 50 suburbs to own real estate in 2021.
The region’s most desirable location, Port Macquarie, is leading the upward investor trajectory with no signs of savvy buyers looking to put a stop to the trend any time soon.
In 2020-21, Port Macquarie ranked third in the nation in terms of houses sold, with 768 properties changing hands in the last financial year. It was beaten only by Orange and Dubbo, which saw 872 and 816 houses sold respectively.
To get a full understanding of the gravity of growth in investor interest in Port, 10 years ago 675 houses were sold, which is 13 per cent less than the number currently being bought today.
The median house price is now worth a whopping 62.1 per cent more than it was in 2011. Interest in units has also proved popular, with the median prices sky rocketing more than 50 per cent in the same period.
While Port Macquarie is ranking far and above its Mid-North Coast neighbours, regions including Forster, Taree and Coffs Harbour are also well and truly punching above their weight in comparison to the rest of the country.
Coffs Harbour saw more than 321 houses sold in 2020-21, an increase of eight per cent on the 2011 figure of 297. The median price of a home now is selling for more than 62 per cent more than 10 years ago, and 120 per cent more than in 2001.
Further south, Taree came in at 25 in the top 50 with 314 houses sold – an increase of 73 sales from 2001.
Investor demand has pushed the median house price up a phenomenal 73 per cent in the same 10 year period.
Next door at Forster, the beachside suburb is seeing a swath of investor activity with sales jumping from 184 in 2011 to 282 in 2001.
In the past 20 years, the suburb’s growing investor profile has seen median house prices surge 120 per cent.
The comprehensive REA data also looked at rising demand from tenants, price increases over the past 10 and 20 years as well as rental yields which signalled it was easier to find properties where the rents covered most, if not all, of investors’ mortgage costs.
The rental yield has fluctuated between four and five per cent across most regions.
Dean Glen-Holmes, Sales Agent at McGrath Estate Agents Port Macquarie, said the demand in stock for investors is still well and truly being driven by Covid.
He said what was once common place for a house to remain on the marker for more than two months, is in most cases now less than 14 days.
“We’re seeing interest from people in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and with the way the property market is at the moment, if you’re going to sell a house, it’s not worthwhile keeping the money in the bank,” he said.
“The returns right now are quite attractive. The high demand and low stock numbers are boosting what you’re able to get in rent, also.
“People are negotiating rent … in some cases you’re seeing people get $100 more than what it was listed at.”
In a lot of instances, he said, people buying property aren’t even physically viewing the house before they make an offer.
“While we like to at least offer one open house in the best interest in the vendor, they start to wonder now why a house hasn’t been sold in two weeks whether before it used to be 60 days.”
For a full breakdown of the regional NSW real estate market, including the top 30 suburbs in the state, head here.
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Originally published as Mid-North Coast real estate: The four suburbs named in Nation’s top 50 to invest in
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